Twitter Name - @melcastle69
the morning of the ride was more relaxed than I thought until I got to
Brian's, thinking I was late I was actually first there with my family
of supporters. Chelsea went off playing with Laila whilst I waited for
others to arrive - next was the twins who appeared nervous, due to the
fact that they didn't stop jumping up and down and chatting. A couple
of others started to arrive and it was creeping towards 9am. We was
all just about ready to leave when Spittle announced that he had lost
the backing off the Garmin so we spent the next few minutes combing
through grass looking for it to no avail.
We shot off towards the school as we were late, I have never been to
the school before and thought that there would just be a few family
members there to see us off so I had a massive shock when we pulled up
to see a large crowd there along with local police and firemen. Lots
of families from the school had turned up to see us off including some
staff from the local Asda who came with lots of bottles of water for
us.
The headmistress started off by opening 'Harry's Garden' This was a
very emotional moment for all involved particularly Harry's family.
Then it was like we were celebrities as we all stood together being
'papped' by everyone. It was also the first time I had met 'Blind
Dave' Healy. What a top bloke he is, had me in fits of laughter from
the off. I think most riders were in 'awe' of the moment, and to be
honest I got to the point where I just wanted to start cycling so that
I could expel some of the nervous energy that had built up.
On the road up to The Radleys was an awesome feeling as I looked
behind and saw all the riders together on their bikes for the first
time in the Cycling for Harry jerseys. We must have looked quite
spectacular to passers-by due to the sheer numbers of us. This was the
first time I met Kallen, a lad in his own gear cycling past us who I
thought was just a normal cyclist out about and we were holding him
up. Little did I know that he had met a few of us on a training outing
a couple of weeks before and asked if he could join in with us.
By the time I had past the first set of lights a large gap had
appeared due to not all being able to get across at the same time and
the front runners not noticing, it was a lot like this all the way to
Knowle which managed to take us an hour. At this point I was a bit
nervous of how long the day would actually take us. But at the first
pit stop it was apparent that a couple of cyclists needed lots of air
pumped into their tyres, once this was done the pace picked up. I
think this was as well because everyones muscles had warmed up and we
were all well into our stride.
Literally one minute from Warwick I thought I had buckled my front
wheel after going down the deepest pot hole imaginable. The impact was
that hard that it took my rear light off! Thankfully all was well
We had a longer than planned stop in Warwick due to the group meeting
in different places and the support van caught up in a one way system.
But this gave us chance to get on twitter and see how everyone was
feeling - this point was the furthest some of our riders had ever
cycled!
The next 20 miles had many up and downs, certainly felt like a lot
more ups in the shapes of upward hills! The first one look huge until
Alan advised us this was the biggest hill, so we all dug deep heads
down and smashed our way up, and felt pretty damn good about ourselves
when we reached the top. Little did we know an even steeper hill
awaited us - I have to admit I bottled it, much to Ian's relief who
was cycling alongside me. I knew that for myself the only up this hill
without doing myself damage was to push it. Believe me this sounds
easier than it was as well - it killed my calves due to the incline
plus the fact I had already cycled 30 miles.
We cycled a further couple of miles into Banbury where a couple of
riders had already reached and were resting to have a quick pit stop,
this is where we were nearly man down. Ricky who was cycling directly
behind me went up a 2 inch curb to get into the car park sideways one
and promptly made mates with the tarmac. I honestly thought he had
broken or twisted his leg at first, but with our personal paramedic to
hand it turned out just to be a few grazes that got heavily bandaged
to make him feel better ;-)
As we cycled through Banbury one of our recently formed friendships
with Colin Bunce @zonk62 was awaiting us to cheer us on and take
pictures which was a nice touch considering we arrived there an hour
later than planned but I'm sure he made use of the pub he was standing
by. In fact there was a few different supporters across the route that
were out waiting for us to go past and took pictures.
The next biggest mishap was being directed into the wrong Holiday Inn,
the moment I cycled up the drive and saw the front of it I knew this
was the wrong one, this was the one I tried to get us booked into but
it was full. Everyone thought I was joking and refused to believe me
especially when they were frothing at the mouth at the prospect of a
pint awaiting them. But eventually we made it to the correct hotel,
and there was huge beaming smiles all round - particularly from Ticket
Mark who already had a pint in hand.
The evening was thoroughly enjoyable with great food and flowing
conversations, or should that be wine and beer? Jimmy topped it off
with a 5min comedy standup. I actually turned down alcohol that night
and opted to go straight to bed when we got back to the hotel instead
of the hotel bar!
Next morning I was shocked to see how early some of the group was up
considering we wasn't leaving until 11am. I was also surprised at how
well my legs felt, although it took a long while to seat my bum down
on the saddle - I wasn't the only one. Brady managed to get a new
pedal from halfords and then we was off for the final leg, not before
we'd applied some suncream, after recent weeks weather we wasn't
expecting to get sunburn like we did.
The roads into London were long open and full of fast cars and bikes,
but fortunately as it was a dual carriageway the cars went into the
outside lane so for the majority of the route we wasn't hassled. One
particular memory was the downhill mile - top to bottom no pedalling,
everyone had their heads down in line with the handlebars and saddle
for a more streamline effect (ok not everyone managed that look) and
coasted all the way down.
Only refill stop was needed on the Sunday and only a couple of
punctures forced a stop so it was quite easy going, even the hills
didn't seem as much of a challenge. The second part that stood out on
the Sunday was the Watford Circle that we thought as we liked the look
of TK Maxx we would go round so that we could see it again!
It seemed like forever that we were waiting for the Wembley arches to
come into sight, Will and Jimmy both had knees that were seizing up
from previous injuries and our very own motivator Icee stayed at the
back with them and I stayed as the back of the pack look out, shouting
slow down to everyone so that we didn't get split up. once at Wembley
after a quick wrong turn we managed to find the yellow car park that
awaited us. What a feeling that was - supporters there cheering us in
and all of us punching the air after what we had achieved, that
thought gives me goose bumps now.
I went to give my mom and dad a hug first, my mom clearly had tears in
her eyes then one by one the rest of the team. There certainly seem to
be a weird set of feelings going on I thought. I suppose it was
different for those that had people there waiting for them to those
that didn't but all this soon changed when the Larks 'n' Larks van
turned up with our celebratory alcohol on it - all the lads with the
cans and me with a bottle of wine. Then it was like we were famous
again as the photos were taken with the backdrop being the famous
wembley arches.
I was actually disappointed that I couldn't travel back with everyone
on the coach as I had to go to Her Majesty's Theatre to watch my
daughter dance later that evening as it would've been good to have a
chat with everyone now that we had finished.
Would I do it again? Of course I would, I've got the bug now, I just
hope that it continues with the great bunch of people I met in doing
this one.
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